IAA Newsletter

December 2018

IAA Newsletter

December 2018

Principal's Message

As we head into the Winter Break, Say Good Words, Think Good Thoughts, Do Good Deeds. This is important all the time, but especially important as we head into the holiday season. We've worked hard here at the Integrated Arts Academy to create not only an excellent learning institution, but also a school where we raise awesome humans. We hope you will bring this positivity to those around you into the new year. Happy 2019!

Calendar

Dec 7 Jon Gailmor Concert PreK-2 1:45 pm

Dec 13 Early Release 11:30 am

Dec 14 Jon Gailmor Concert Grades 3-5 & STEP 1:45 pm

Dec 20 FILL THE BOWL: 6-7:30 pm Community Dinner and Fundraiser

Dec 21 IAA Sing-a-long Friday Town Meeting 2:15 pm

Dec 22-Jan 2:NO SCHOOL

Jan 3 First day back to school

Jon Gailmor Returns!

Singer/Songwriter Jon Gailmor is back at IAA for a ten day residency December 3-14th. He’ll be working in grades preK through grade 5 to craft unique songs with each class that will be performed on Friday, December 7th and 14. Please join the Pre K through Grade 2 classes at 1:45 on Friday December 7th, and Grades 3 through 5 + STEP on Friday, December 14th for these - sure to be awesome - performances. Thank you to the Vermont Arts Council and the IAA PTO for their support.

Illustrator/Author Jason Chin at IAA!

IAA welcomed illustrator/author Jason Chin as our second Studio Artist in Residence of this school year. Jason presented at Monday Morning Meeting on December 3rd, and spent the day at his IAA “studio” while classes dropped in throughout the day to see his illustration in action.

IAA Artists

Congrats to IAA young artists for getting their work out into the community. Two recent exhibits were Afternoon Art Adventures at the Colburn Gallery at UVM, and Creative Climate at the Fletcher Free Library. Both shows were remarkable and clearly IAA students shine with creativity!

Jon Gailmor Returns!

Singer/Songwriter Jon Gailmor is back at IAA for a ten day residency December 3-14th. He’ll be working in grades preK through grade 5 to craft unique songs with each class that will be performed on Friday, December 7th and 14. Please join the Pre K through Grade 2 classes at 1:45 on Friday December 7th, and Grades 3 through 5 + STEP on Friday, December 14th for these - sure to be awesome - performances. Thank you to the Vermont Arts Council and the IAA PTO for their support.

Illustrator/Author Jason Chin at IAA!

IAA welcomed illustrator/author Jason Chin as our second Studio Artist in Residence of this school year. Jason presented at Monday Morning Meeting on December 3rd, and spent the day at his IAA “studio” while classes dropped in throughout the day to see his illustration in action.

IAA Artists

Congrats to IAA young artists for getting their work out into the community. Two recent exhibits were Afternoon Art Adventures at the Colburn Gallery at UVM, and Creative Climate at the Fletcher Free Library. Both shows were remarkable and clearly IAA students shine with creativity!

PTO Announcements:

1) Conversations on Race at IAA

Join us next Wednesday, December 5th, from 6-8pm, for the first in a monthly series of conversations about race in our IAA community. This first gathering will be facilitated by Ita Meno of CQ Strategies, LLC, and will focus on the first two episodes of "Seeing White" a series in the Scene on Radio podcast.

Though these gatherings weren't built into the PTO budget, we'd like to provide childcare and food if that would increase participation. We might request a sliding scale donation to make this possible.

2) Ordering through Amazon this holiday season (or any time through the year)? Please use Amazon Smile to give "free money" to the IAA PTO! Just go to smile.amazon.com and choose the "Integrated Arts Academy at HO Wheeler Parent Teacher Organization" and Amazon will donate a portion of your purchase to our PTO. This costs you nothing and contributes hundreds of dollars to your school!

Art Studio News

5th grade students are immersed in a Math & Art unit about volume and form.

Our mathematical definition of volume isthe amount of 3-dimensional space an object takes up. In Art, Form is an element of art that is three-dimensional (3D) and encloses space. Like a shape, a form has length and width, but it also has depth.

To explore these concepts, Students constructed 3D boxes out of cardboard. They then calculated the volume of their sculptures and painted about these math and art ideas on the outside. Keep your eyes peeled for a dynamic installation of their sculptures coming in mid December!

Library

We've had a busy month in the library!! All classes have been working hard on learning the areas of the library and the systems that make them work. Students have been participating in a scavenger hunt that takes them all over the library. They need to identify the title, author, and the call number (what tells us where to find the book in our library). Book circulation has gone up a lot since we started this, as students discover new and different (to them) areas of the library!

In the 5th grades, we have been reading and having a discussion with one of this years Dorothy's List Books, Ban This Book. We've had lots of conversations about our right to read and who can tell us what books we can read. In this book, there is a list of books that have been pulled from a school library, and we have most of these books available to students in our IAA library. Students have been very interested in discovering these books (a list of the books and their descriptions can be found here). I recommend having a conversation with your student about these books. If you have any questions about what we are learning, or want to know more, please reach out.

Thank you to everyone that ordered Square 1 Art! Without you, this fundraiser for the library wouldn't work. If you missed out, it’s not too late – and IAA will still benefit from your order! You can order online at square1art.com/shop using your art access code from your catalog. Or, call Customer Care at 888.332.3294 for assistance. Orders will be arriving around December 11th and I would love to have some parent volunteers that would be willing to sort by class for ease of delivery.

Drama

Kindergarten and Third Grade students had a visit from Flynn Teaching Artists Jeff Mandell and Hanna Satterlee this week ahead of field trips to see Cirque Mechanics at the Flynn Theatre. The students practiced circus skills such as balance, team-work, and the art of concentration!

Second Graders are engaged in a interdisciplinary integrated arts unit. They’ve taken a boat trip to mystical Wild Island, where they’ll be studying animals, working on math problems, and writing about their adventurous pursuits.

Music

5th graders have been doing some great composing in their Noteflight accounts. They have learned the tool well, and have been working on creating their own variations on common themes. Remember, they can access their compositions anytime they want, outside of school!

4th graders have been finishing creating musical compositions using MadPad sounds, and sharing them with the class. They also made their own sounds to use in a composition. It’s been a lot of fun listening to each other!

3rd graders are putting the skills that they learned during music-math integrated arts by composing rhythmic pieces and then playing the duets with a partner.

Thinking ahead: IAA 2nd-5th grade students are once again invited to sing at the ECHO Center’s Martin Luther King Day Celebration on Monday, January 21st. Stay tuned for details!

PE

We have been busy finishing our fitness tests in 4th and 5th grade. Please look for a pretest report that will be sent home before winter break. Please encourage your child to be active for 60 minutes a day. Kindergarteners thru 3rd graders have begun a speedstacking unit which helps make new connections in our brains which can help with hand eye coordination and learning to read. We work on use both hands at the same time which can help with learning a musical instrument and keyboarding. If your child is interested in speedstacking, please consider purchasing a set of speedstacks for home. They are 20 dollars a set and come with introductory DVD for children to learn more. This is also supports new equipment for our PE program.

Also look for a flyer which will be sent home to all Kindergarteners thru 2nd graders announcing an opportunity for a free bike. This program is sponsored by the Old Spokes Home.

Special Education

Here at the Integrated Arts Academy, we are working hard to improve our academic scores as well as foster students' ability for self-regulation and emotional control. We as a staff are working to consistently bridge the common language of the Zones of Regulation as a tool to help students self-regulate.

"The Zones of Regulation is a curriculum geared toward helping students gain skills in consciously regulating their actions, which in turn leads to increased control and problem-solving abilities. Using a cognitive behavior approach, the curriculum’s learning activities are designed to help students recognize when they are in different states called “zones,” with each of four zones represented by a different color. In the activities, students also learn how to use strategies or tools to stay in a zone or move from one to another. Students explore calming techniques, cognitive strategies, and sensory supports so they will have a toolbox of methods to use to move between zones. To deepen students’ understanding of how to self-regulate, the lessons set out to teach students these skills: how to read others’ facial expressions and recognize a broader range of emotions, perspective about how others see and react to their behavior, insight into events that trigger their less regulated states, and when and how to use tools and problem solving skills.(www.socialthinking.com/Products/Zone)."

Health

There are a lot of fun things to do outside in the winter. However, it is important to consider safety. It’s a good time to review some winter health and safety tips.

Ice skating and sledding are great ways to get exercise on a cold winter day. Children should be supervised. Advise your child to: Sled feet first or sitting up, instead of lying down head-first. Sled on slopes free of obstructions (like trees or fences), not too steep, that ends with a flat runoff. Skate only on approved surfaces. Skate in one direction with the crowd. Never skate alone. Do not chew gum or eat candy while engaged in winter activities. Wear a helmet. Stay away from crowded areas.

When it is cold outside, remember to set a reasonable time limit on outdoor play and have children come inside periodically to warm up. Remember to consider the windchill when deciding how long they can safely remain outside. Pay close attention to cheeks, nose and forehead if they are not covered. Dressing in layers is the best way to stay warm. If they have a choice, mittens will keep hands warmer than gloves. Students will have winter recess so please send them to school with all their winter gear. If your child should need some winter clothing, please inform their teacher as we have a limited supply of donated items.

Nosebleeds If your child suffers from winter nosebleeds, try using a cold air humidifier in the child’s room at night. Saline nose drops or petroleum jelly may also help. To stop a nosebleed, apply finger and thumb pressure on the soft part of nostrils below the bridge of the nose for at least 5 minutes. Their head should remain level.If severe, consult your pediatrician.

A fun activity for indoor winter play is creating paper snowflakes. This link gives directions for simple as well as intricate snowflake designs. Enjoy!